Jim Robinson of RRE Ventures said it best last month at the Silicon Dragon Conference when comparing Silicon Valley to New York, "There are two kinds of centers that have a lot of startups and technology, there are technology centers and commerce centers." New York falls into the later category, while the Valley is the former. Sitting next to Jim, I reflected that Singapore might be in both groups, an Asian commerce hub and a leader in mechatronics. As an advocate for automation, I am often disheartened that the United States significantly lags behind its industrial counterparts in manufacturing autonomous machines. The key to a pro-job policy could be gleaning from the successes of countries like Singapore to implement America's own'Robot First Plan.'

The machines haven't taken over. However, they are seeping their way into our lives, affecting how we live, work and entertain ourselves. From voice-powered personal assistants like Siri and Alexa, to more underlying and fundamental technologies such as behavioral algorithms, suggestive searches and autonomously-powered self-driving vehicles boasting powerful predictive capabilities, there are several examples and applications of artificial intellgience in use today. However, the technology is still in its infancy. What many companies are calling A.I. today, aren't necessarily so.

Lots of algorithms go bad unintentionally. Some of them, however, are made to be criminal. Algorithms are formal rules, usually written in computer code, that make predictions on future events based on historical patterns. To train an algorithm you need to provide historical data as well as a definition of success. We've seen finance get taken over by algorithms in the past few decades. Trading algorithms use historical data to predict movements in the market. Success for that algorithm is a predictable market move, and the algorithm is vigilant for patterns that have historically happened just before that move.

This week a report by PwC found that artificial intelligence could add as much as $15.7 trillion – around same as the combined output of China and India – to the global economy by 2030. Everyone is in agreement that it is a technology which can change the world, and from space exploration to countering terrorism and even creating art, its potential is becoming increasingly apparent. It still faces significant hurdles though – challenges that will have to be overcome before that potential can be achieved. Many see meeting those challenges as a task of utmost priority for the tech industry right now. Let's start with an easy one, and one which is likely to be solved over time, although until it is, it shouldn't be taken for granted that it will be.

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About this course: This 1-week accelerated on-demand course introduces participants to the Big Data and Machine Learning capabilities of Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It provides a quick overview of the Google Cloud Platform and a deeper dive of the data processing capabilities. At the end of this course, participants will be able to: • Identify the purpose and value of the key Big Data and Machine Learning products in the Google Cloud Platform • Use CloudSQL and Cloud Dataproc to migrate existing MySQL and Hadoop/Pig/Spark/Hive workloads to Google Cloud Platform • Employ BigQuery and Cloud Datalab to carry out interactive data analysis • Choose between Cloud SQL, BigTable and Datastore • Train and use a neural network using TensorFlow • Choose between different data processing products on the Google Cloud Platform Before enrolling in this course, participants should have roughly one (1) year of experience with one or more of the following: • A common query language such as SQL • Extract, transform, load activities • Data modeling • Machine learning and/or statistics • Programming in Python Google Account Notes: • You'll need a Google/Gmail account and a credit card or bank account to sign up for the Google Cloud Platform free trial (Google is currently blocked in China).

Kevin Ashton didn't take the usual route into computing. The man who coined the term "the internet of things" actually studied Scandinavian literature at the University of London. He now lives in Austin, Texas, and is one of the foremost thinkers on exactly where the internet is taking us and how it will impact on our everyday lives. In a recent interview he envisioned that in "25 years we'll be able to live in Edinburgh and commute in our self-driving cars to London via a trunk road designed especially for the purpose, at speeds of up to 250mph." Well, maybe… but one thing is for sure: I'll still be stopping for a bowl of delicious home-made soup at Tebay services in the Lakes.

Tesla, end-of-year 2017: The tech giant's CEO Elon Musk is continuing to assure consumers that Tesla will have a coast-to-coast autopilot demo by the end of this year. At a Ted Talk in April, Musk said, "We should be able to go from a parking lot in California to a parking lot in New York, no controls touched at any point during the entire journey." General Motors, 2018: Reuters reported in February that GM plans to have "thousands of self-driving electric cars in test fleets...beginning in 2018," in partnership with Lyft. Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise Automation which was bought by GM last year, did not confirm this with Forbes in March, but said they plan to "deploy in a rideshare environment, and very quickly." Hyundai, 2020: According to Forbes, the South Korean motor company is "slated to release highly autonomous vehicles by 2020...and fully autonomous vehicles by 2030," meaning level four and five automation.

Customers of ING Direct may soon be able to ask their "digital assistant" to check their bank balance, or tell a "chatbot" on Twitter to freeze a credit card that has gone missing. As banks grapple with the mobile revolution, the online bank is preparing for what some in the technology world think could be an even bigger change: the rise of artificial intelligence. By the end of this year, it expects to be capable of unleashing chatbots on Twitter, Facebook, and Google's Assistant, which is the tech giant's answer to Apple's digital assistant, Siri. While many banks are active on social media, and other Australian banks are also working with chatbots, ING says its new wave of bots are different because they will be able to talk to customers in in everyday, jargon-free language. Recently appointed chief information officer, Ani Paul, said customers would be able to ask the chatbot questions such as "How much money do I have in my account," or "Am I broke yet?"

Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, east China - July 9, 2017 MUTE 1. Various of aerial shots of artificial intelligence town 2. Board reading (Chinese) "Welcome to China Artificial Intelligence Town" 3. Various of enterprise logos 4. Sign reading (Chinese) "VR/AR Innovative Research Institute under Beihang University" 5. Various of visitors experiencing VR technology 6. Map of artificial intelligence town 7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Hao Aimin, deputy director of national key laboratory for VR technology and system (starting with shots 5-6, partially overlaid with shot 8): "I think this place has a very dense innovative atmosphere, an ample imaginary space and active private capital. We are capable of gathering talents and incubating enterprises here. We also hope that our technology can promote the local technology upgrading, helping them to develop in terms of industry transformation and upgrading." Dish cooked by automatic cooker, visitors test-tasting 12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhao Xikai, executive deputy director of management committee of Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City (ending with shot 13): "We want to utilize these innovative enterprises, especially these research and development platforms, organically combining their technology and talents with our local enterprises, capital, and market. With their help, the local industries can realize a high-level transformation and upgrade so that the whole industry and the industry chain will be at the leading edge. Of course, we should provide better services during the process so that our collaborative innovation can enter a new phase and lead the entire economic development of China."